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This presidential election is characterized by an unusual tension about what could happen on Tuesday. High expectations regarding who will win an election that seems to be increasingly disputed are natural. What is new is the unsettling feeling that threats, intimidation and suppression against Latino and African-American voters may arise.

This year, several factors combine to create this possibility. On the one hand, in 2013 the Supreme Court eliminated an important part of the Voting Rights Act that established federal oversight, with the argument that “our country has changed.” On the other, is Republican candidate Donald Trump’s message that the election is rigged and that there is widespread electoral fraud and his call to his followers to be vigilant about who turns up at voting sites.

Some are anticipating that Trump followers will harass Latino voters, particularly naturalized immigrants, at some voting sites, thanks to the lie of voter fraud among the undocumented. At the same time, white supremacist and neo-Nazi groups are getting ready to suppress the vote of African-Americans.

The argument of the possibility of electoral fraud, which practically does not exist, is embedded into the genetics of Republicans to discourage the vote of minorities, who tend to be Democratic. Cases of intimidation with guards threatening people at voting locations have frequently been seen in the past.

This year, it is also manifested in the new voting laws approved by several Republican-led states making the most of the Supreme Court’s decision, which dilutes the defense of minority voters.

North Carolina is the best example. The state reduced early voting hours in three counties with high percentages of African-American voters, and the number of voting booths was reduced in 17 counties; one of them went from 16 booths to one. That is the reason why in-person attendance has gone down, especially among African-Americans. Out of the 21,560 votes cast on the first two days of 2012, it decreased to 3,295 this year, an 85% drop.

The vote of minorities is already being suppressed today.

Trump’s message that, if he loses, it will be due to fraud, and his feverish followers – who are motivated by a nativist and racist message and who want to decide who can vote and who cannot – are a time-bomb that we hope will not explode on Tuesday.

Hillary for America general counsel Marc Elias on listening and responding to calls for an audit and recount:

"Over the last few days, officials in the Clinton campaign have received hundreds of messages, emails, and calls urging us to do something, anything, to investigate claims that the election results were hacked and altered in a way to disadvantage Secretary Clinton. The concerns have arisen, in particular, with respect to Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania — three states that together proved decisive in this presidential election and where the combined margin of victory for Donald Trump was merely 107,000 votes.

It should go without saying that we take these concerns extremely seriously. We certainly understand the heartbreak felt by so many who worked so hard to elect Hillary Clinton, and it is a fundamental principle of our democracy to ensure that every vote is properly counted.

Moreover, this election cycle was unique in the degree of foreign interference witnessed throughout the campaign: the U.S. government concluded that Russian state actors were behind the hacks of the Democratic National Committee and the personal email accounts of Hillary for America campaign officials, and just yesterday, the Washington Post reported that the Russian government was behind much of the “fake news” propaganda that circulated online in the closing weeks of the election.

For all these reasons, we have quietly taken a number of steps in the last two weeks to rule in or out any possibility of outside interference in the vote tally in these critical battleground states.First, since the day after the election we have had lawyers and data scientists and analysts combing over the results to spot anomalies that would suggest a hacked result. These have included analysts both from within the campaign and outside, with backgrounds in politics, technology and academia.

Second, we have had numerous meetings and calls with various outside experts to hear their concerns and to discuss and review their data and findings. As a part of this, we have also shared out data and findings with them. Most of those discussions have remained private, while at least one has unfortunately been the subject of leaks.

Third, we have attempted to systematically catalogue and investigate every theory that has been presented to us within our ability to do so.

Fourth, we have examined the laws and practices as they pertain to recounts, contests and audits.

Fifth, and most importantly, we have monitored and staffed the post-election canvasses — where voting machine tapes are compared to poll-books, provisional ballots are resolved, and all of the math is double checked from election night. During that process, we have seen Secretary Clinton’s vote total grow, so that, today, her national popular vote lead now exceeds more than 2 million votes.

In the coming days, we will continue to perform our due diligence and actively follow all further activities that are to occur prior to the certification of any election results. For instance, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania conduct post-election audits using a sampling of precincts. Michigan and many other states still do not. This is unfortunate; it is our strong belief that, in addition to an election canvass, every state should do this basic audit to ensure accuracy and public confidence in the election.

Beyond the post-election audit, Green Party candidate Jill Stein announced Friday that she will exercise her right as a candidate to pursue a recount in the state of Wisconsin. She has indicated plans to also seek recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan.

Because we had not uncovered any actionable evidence of hacking or outside attempts to alter the voting technology, we had not planned to exercise this option ourselves, but now that a recount has been initiated in Wisconsin, we intend to participate in order to ensure the process proceeds in a manner that is fair to all sides. If Jill Stein follows through as she has promised and pursues recounts in Pennsylvania and Michigan, we will take the same approach in those states as well. We do so fully aware that the number of votes separating Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton in the closest of these states — Michigan — well exceeds the largest margin ever overcome in a recount. But regardless of the potential to change the outcome in any of the states, we feel it is important, on principle, to ensure our campaign is legally represented in any court proceedings and represented on the ground in order to monitor the recount process itself.

The campaign is grateful to all those who have expended time and effort to investigate various claims of abnormalities and irregularities. While that effort has not, in our view, resulted in evidence of manipulation of results, now that a recount is underway, we believe we have an obligation to the more than 64 million Americans who cast ballots for Hillary Clinton to participate in ongoing proceedings to ensure that an accurate vote count will be reported." ... Ver másVer menos

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On November 8, the Democratic party and our country suffered a major setback. Now more than ever, we need to listen to one another and work to repair what has been torn apart.

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In the days ahead, my family and I will continue to do everything in our power to fight for the Democratic Party, and for the more compassionate and inclusive country that we carry in our hearts.

"We are one, our cause is one, and we must help each other if we are to succeed." ... Ver másVer menos

Interesting article: various pastors explain why it’s important for parishioners to sing together in church, even if they’re self-conscious about having “lousy voices.” Remember, there’s a reason why it’s called making a “joyful noise.” ... Ver másVer menos

Enjoyed speaking at the Heritage Foundation about the challenges the nation faces, both domestic and abroad, and the great opportunity conservatives have with our new leadership. Thank you for having me! ... Ver másVer menos

The American people have entrusted Republicans with a historic opportunity. They gave us the House, the Senate, a majority of governor’s seats, and the White House.

Now we must honor the trust they have put in us by repealing and replacing Obamacare with health-care policies that lower costs, improve quality, and increase access for all Americans. ... Ver másVer menos

"National policies must make economic and environmental sense. When someone says, “climate science is settled,” remind them to check the facts. And recall the great physicist Richard Feynman’s remark: “No government has the right to decide on the truth of scientific principles.” ... Ver másVer menos

I hope you can join me in Philadelphia on Monday, December 19th for Dom Giordano's 8th Annual Feast of the Seven Fishes, where I will receive the award for Person of the Year. Proceeds benefit the Liberty U.S.O. and Catholic Charities along with the Archbishop’s Christmas Benefit for Children.